1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an incubator with an incubation chamber, a shaking device which can be driven by a drive unit and which is used to shake receptacles that can be placed in the incubation chamber and that contain cell cultures, and a device chamber which adjoins the incubation chamber and which accommodates at least parts of the shaking device protruding into the incubation chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
Incubators are used to cultivate cell cultures that are arranged in receptacles placed in the incubation chamber. Shaking devices are used in order to achieve better cell growth.
EP 1 626 082 B1 discloses an incubator comprising an incubation chamber at whose lower end a device chamber is arranged. The device chamber accommodates a shaking device for shaking or agitating receptacles that are placed in the incubation chamber and that hold cell cultures. For this purpose, a shaft protrudes into the incubation chamber and has, at its free end, a shaking table for receiving the receptacles. The shaft extending into the incubation chamber has to rotate and also has to execute eccentric reciprocating movements in a horizontal plane.
A disadvantage of the above is that, because of the shaking movement, the seal between incubation chamber and device chamber can be provided only via an elastic bellows. Bellows of this kind are susceptible to wear and can, for example, tear, such that moisture from the incubation chamber can enter the device chamber. Moreover, the heat generated in the device chamber, particularly by the motor of the shaking device, can affect the climate in the incubation chamber by way of the bellows.
Moreover, DE 198 14 013 C1 discloses a shaking device which is arranged in its entirety in an incubation chamber of an incubator.
A disadvantage of this known device is that the heat given off by the device can affect the climate in the incubation chamber in an undesirable manner. In this device too, moisture from the incubation chamber can enter the shaking device.
Moreover, DE 20 2007 005 865 U1 discloses an incubator with an incubation chamber in which a shaking device is arranged. In this device, the problem of the heat given off by the shaking device and entering the incubation chamber is solved by a coolant circuit. The coolant circuit is not needed for the culturing, and to provide it simply to take up the heat given off by the shaking device is therefore relatively expensive and complicated.
The object of the present invention is therefore to make available an incubator with a shaking device in which the climate in the incubation chamber is largely unaffected by heat introduced by the shaking device. The shaking device should at the same time be protected as much as possible from the moisture in the incubation chamber.